Information Systems Primer, Part I
Robert W. Zmud (1999)
Information Systems are much more than valuable tools. Today, they are essential
elements of all organizations, elements whose absence, even for brief periods of time, can
cause a business to fail. More than half of most organizations’ capital expenditures
represent investments in computer-based systems and technologies. In fact, most
workers spend an ever-increasing portion of their workday using computers or computergenerated reports, and most jobs are undergoing constant change as computers intrude
ever deeper into day-to-day work activities.
What does this mean to you? It means that your ability to competently perform your job,
and your organization’s ability to achieve its performance goals are both increasingly
dependent on your capability to understand, to use and to improve the Information
System made available to you. Therefore, the objective of this introductory material is to
give you a basic understanding of Information Systems.
Topic #1: What is an Information System?
Stated most simply, an information system is a computer system designed to accomplish
business objectives. This system involves five major elements: the business objective,
hardware, software, procedures and people.
Business Objective
The business purpose, or purposes, intended to be accomplished through an Information
System.
Hardware
Electronic equipment providing processing power and communication capabilities.
Typical hardware components involved with Information Systems include the processing
unit (the computer), display device (monitor), input device (keyboard, mouse), output
device (printer), storage device (hard disk, floppy disk) and communication device
(modem).
Software
Computer programs (logical steps) which direct the hardware to accomplish specific
tasks.
Procedures
A set of rules, policies and pre-defined actions or steps (usually documented) to be
followed when working with Information Systems to achieve the business objectives.
People
Employees, customers and clients who possess the knowledge and skills to use the
Information System in order to accomplish business objectives.
How can you make sure that these five elements work well together? You should draw
from many sources of expertise, including Information Systems personnel within your
company, hired consultants and vendors. However, the most valuable sources of
information can be found within the workers and managers involved in day-to-day
activities who may not be information systems experts.
Year 2000 Problem
All organizations are now finalizing their efforts to fix the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem?
What is the Y2K problem? Many programs use dates as data, e.g., today’s date, the date
an order is due, the date a person was hired, etc. In the “old days” of computing,
computer memory was both expensive and scarce, and programmers used “tricks” to save
memory space. One such “trick” was to leave off the “19” for the year in a date, i.e.,
“1971” would be referred to as “71.” What people did not think about was that
interpreting “00” as “1900” rather than as “2000” could lead to disastrous consequences
in the future. Without going into the details, just accept that it can!
What does this mean to you? First, and most important, you need to make sure that the
computer applications on which you depend have been judged to be “Year 2K
compliant.” Second, it demonstrates how important it is that all of an organization’s
employees, and not just its computer specialists, contribute to the design of computer
applications. Third, you may find that many of the computer applications you use are
being redesigned or replaced and that you have been asked to help in this effort. This
course should provide you with the knowledge you need to contribute to such efforts.
Topic #2: What benefits do information systems provide?
Information systems enable individuals and groups to perform their work assignments
more effectively. As a result, an organization’s overall success also improves. These
improvements in work performance occur in a variety of ways:
Distribution Benefits
 Supplying high-quality information, which enables employees to take action more
quickly and make better decisions.

Capturing and distributing expertise, which enables employees to better learn from
each other.
Efficiency Benefits
 Redesigning work activities, which removes unneeded activities and improves the
flow of work.
 Eliminating space and time barriers, which helps employees to handle work tasks and
access needed resources regardless of where or when they physically work.
 Monitoring work activities, helping both front-line workers and managers to "keep in
touch" with the status of work activities.
Automation Benefits
 Automating manual activities, which increases the accuracy and speed of work being
performed.
 Automating decision activities, which increased the quality, consistency and speed of
decision making.
Two key aspects of these benefits are:

The benefits arise from changes in work tasks, procedures and arrangements
not just from technology. They must be first and foremost bee recognized as
business solutions, not technical solutions!

An information system only provides the potential for improved performance
-- it does not guarantee that improvements will occur. Employees must
effectively use an information system once it has been installed and must,
over time, suggest enhancements to the information system.
Topic #3: What are the basic types of Information Systems?
There are five basic types of information systems: transaction processing systems,
information reporting systems, decision support systems, business rule automation and
communications support. Each of these is briefly introduced below, and each will be
discussed in more detail in the topics that follow.
Transaction Processing Systems
Transaction processing involves capturing data regarding key business events, storing
these data, and using them to produce needed business documents.
Information Reporting Systems
Information reporting involves retrieving stored data to produce prespecified reports.
These reports are then used by workers and managers in performing their job
assignments.
Decision Support Systems
Decision support involves retrieving data stored in one or more databases, and then
combining these data with appropriate analytical rules to create on-demand hard copy or
onscreen reports. These reports are then used by workers and managers facing a
decision. Often, the user of a decision support system undertakes a series of “what-if"
analyses to explore the decision situation. That is, by building and then manipulating
(often, through the use of an electronic spreadsheet) a model of a decision, the outcomes
to be realized from different actions can be determined.
Communications Support Systems
New communications technologies—facsimile, voice mail, electronic mail,
teleconferencing and tools which allow multiple individuals to collaborate, have greatly
enriched the communication alternatives available in organizations. Individuals and
groups who are aware of the communication alternatives available to them and are able to
wisely select among them are likely to interact more effectively and more efficiently.
Business Rule Automation Systems
Business rules (i.e., the handling of tasks and events in pre-specified ways), are
automated within software so that when specific circumstances occur the information
system will respond automatically.
Case Study
The Information Systems concepts introduced throughout this primer are illustrated
through an example of a fictitious mail order company. After studying the concepts and
reading how they apply to the mail order company, think through the concepts again,
focusing on how they currently apply to your company and/or how they might apply in
the future.
Transaction Processing System
The mail order company’s transaction processing system collects data about customer
orders, product IDs, quantities, customer names, account number, phone number, billing
address, shipping address, preferred shipping method and credit card number. Such data
are useful in producing documents such as a warehouse packing list and a shipping label.
Information Reporting System
A very important department in any mail order company is the customer service
department, where customer orders are taken. The customer service supervisor staffs the
department throughout the week. Her staffing is based on anticipated volume of calls. An
information reporting system supplies a weekly report on order levels for each hour of the
day throughout the week. She can them accurately predict varying volumes through the
day and week and schedule accordingly.
Decision Support System
It is Tuesday and our customer service supervisor just received a report indicating that
sales are increasing. Additional representatives are needed to work for the remainder of
the week. But, how many, and when should they work? Luckily, the supervisor has a
decision support tool that forecasts expected orders for the remaining hours in the week
and calculates the profit expected from a hypothetical work schedule. With such a tool,
the supervisor could try out different work schedules, e.g., "What if" I schedule 13 staff
instead of 11 during the afternoon shifts?, selecting that which produced the greatest
profit.
Communications Support
Once again a decision is required on staffing up the customer service department for peak
hours. Rather than making this decision by herself, the customer service supervisor has
decided to involve her two shift leaders. Using a collaboration tool, they set up a threeway phone conference while each is able to view the same "what-if" decision model on
their personal computer. As they jointly work through different options, consensus is
quickly reached regarding the best action to take.
Business Rule Automation
Business rule automation can further assist in staffing the customer service department. It
is possible to create a set of rules which work with the sales database to automatically
produce each week's work schedule and then adjust this schedule on a daily basis to
account for current sales trends. Many organizations, in fact, have implemented this type
of information system.
Topic #4: Why do companies use transaction processing systems?
Transaction processing systems capture and store data items about business events, so
that these events, if needed, can be reconstructed at some future time.
One way of thinking about the day-to-day work that occurs in any organization is to
identify the key business events. Typical business events involve things such as:
 interviewing a potential employee.
 taking an order from a customer.
 obtaining materials from a supplies inventory.
 making a change in an employee’s insurance coverage.
If you personally were able to observe and document all the business events that occurred
throughout your entire organization yesterday, you would develop a fairly good
understanding of both what happened and why it happened. Obviously, this would be
impossible for you to do. But, this is the purpose of a company’s transaction processing
systems.
The data items captured through transaction processing are stored in databases, each of
which reflects a carefully defined set of information about the objects (employees,
customers, suppliers, orders, products, materials, machines, etc.) associated with business
events. Transaction processing serves two other purposes in addition to maintaining
these databases: to produce event listings and to produce business documents.
Maintain Databases
As business events occur, data items are captured and processed to update relevant
databases. Typically, a single business event results in multiple databases being updated.
For example, the processing of a customer order would typically require that the
following databases be updated: open orders, product inventory, product sales, customer
and employee.
Produce Event Listings
It is often important to produce listings of business events which either have occurred
(e.g., all the sales that occurred yesterday) or will occur (e.g., all orders to be packed and
shipped tomorrow). Such listings enable employees to review what has happened and
plan for the future.
Produce Business Documents
Business events often are handled through or with specific business documents, such as
an invoice, a paycheck or a purchase order. By creating such documents, in either paper
or electronic form, transaction processing systems directly support the handling of
business events.
In order to effectively accomplish these three purposes, transaction processing systems
must capture the data items that describe business events in an accurate, complete and
timely manner. If the guidelines given below are followed, this is more likely to occur.
Guidelines:
 Capture sufficient data: Make sure that enough data is captured about an event at
the time the event occurs to reconstruct it at some later time. It is very difficult, if not
impossible, to collect needed data after the event has occurred.
 Minimize redundancy: Minimize the number of times a data item is recorded. Each
time that a human records a data item is another chance for an error to occur.
 Keep current: Minimize the time delay from when an event occurs and when all
affected databases are updated. If databases are not kept as current as possible, their
use can lead to improper actions and decisions.
 Keep accurate: Make sure that obviously inaccurate data is neither input to nor
output from an Information System. Software can be written to prevent such
problems as long as programmers are provided the valid range for each data item.
“Garbage In-Garbage Out” is one of the oldest truisms about computers. If you are not
getting helpful information from your information system, the cause could be one or
more poorly designed transaction processing systems.
Case Study
One of the mail order company’s transaction processing systems is used by workers at the
warehouse to keep track of product shipments received from suppliers. The mail order
company has worked out agreements with its suppliers so that all arriving packages have
a bar code label which identifies the package contents. Workers use a bar code reader to
capture data off these labels when each package arrives, and a transaction processing
system immediately updates the appropriate product, supplier and purchase order
databases. The bar code labels are electronically read, thus, the captured data is highly
accurate. The databases are updated when shipments are received, thus, and therefore are
very current.
It is critical that the company maintain accurate, current records of on-hand products.
Without such data, the company’s sales representatives would be unable to inform a
customer when a desired purchase would be shipped. In the competitive mail order
business, sales are lost if company representatives are unable to provide customers with
such information.
Topic #5: Why do companies use information reporting systems?
Information reporting systems provide prespecified displays (normally tables and charts)
of data from a company’s databases. (Here, prespecified means that employees receiving
reports must formally request any changes to the reports.) These reports, which usually
involve simple computations (sums, averages, differences) on stored data to provide
totals and trends, focus employees’ attention to particular issues and performance criteria.
Few employees have jobs where everything they do is detailed through instructions and
procedures. Most employees regularly make decisions about what tasks they should
address, how they should be addressed, and which aspects of these tasks should be
stressed. The reports produced by information reporting systems significantly influence
the manner in which employees perform their jobs. Think about the reports your receive.
How much have they affected what you pay attention to in your own job?
There are two basic approaches to information reporting: periodic reporting and
exception reporting.
Periodic Reporting
With periodic reporting, reports are produced and distributed to designated managers and
workers on a regular (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) basis. The advantage of
periodic reporting is that employees become very familiar with the issues being
emphasized in the report. The disadvantage is that employees may become so familiar
with a report that they begin to ignore it.
Exception Reporting
With exception reporting, a report is produced and distributed only when an exception
situation occurs (that is, when an important value -- number of complaints, number of
defects, etc.)-- lies outside the bounds of “normal” activity. The advantage of exception
reporting is that reports are distributed only when there is a need for employees to be
informed. The disadvantage is that it can be difficult to set the boundaries of the
“exception situation”:
 If the bounds are too loose, reports won’t be distributed soon enough and the costs of
the exceptional situation will be borne longer than desired.
 If the bounds are too tight, reports will be distributed too quickly and employees
might be needlessly disrupted.
Information reports are heavily used in all organizations. In fact, employees often feel
that they are inundated with reports. Is this the case for you or others in your company?
If so, the guidelines that follow may be useful in analyzing the reports currently being
used by your company’s information reporting systems.
Guidelines:
 Keep evaluating the report: All reports should be periodically examined to
determine if they are still needed, if they contain the right information, if they are
being distributed to the right employees and if their frequency of distribution is
appropriate.
 Highlight important data: The more important information within a report should
be highlighted in some fashion, so that it becomes more likely to be noticed by those
receiving the report. Most reports contain information of varied importance, and

depending on the values contained in a specific report, what was unimportant last
period might be urgent this period.
Include positives and negatives: Be sure that reports contain and highlight both
positive and negative values and trends. Too often, only negative observations are
emphasized. While it is important to be made aware of negative outcomes, it is just
as important to know when things are going exceptionally well.
Case Study
Two of the more crucial activities in a mail order company involve deciding which
products to drop from the catalog and how many of each product to stock at the
warehouse. A report which provides weekly analyses of the sales and stock levels for the
company’s products has proven to be a very useful management tool. The mail order
company currently has about 1400 different products in its catalog. To produce a weekly
report which presented data on all 1400 products would likely overwhelm anyone
receiving it.
It was decided to produce a weekly report which contained only those products whose
sales and stock levels were exceptional (both high and low). For these exceptions, the
report provided “actual vs. expected” sales and stock levels, as well as lost sales for the
current week and the three preceding weeks. Additionally, the report began with a
summary table which pointed out those products most in need of attention. Once this
report was developed, it became much easier to identify those products which were
candidates to be dropped from the catalog and which needed to have their stock levels
changed.
Topic #6: Why do companies use decision support systems?
Decision support systems enable an employee facing a decision to gain access to data and
analytical tools useful for dealing with the decision.
Business decisions can be quite complex and many factors need to be considered. These
factors are often very messy, and desired outcomes can be conflicting (for example, being
asked to improve customer service and reduce costs). A well-designed decision support
system can prove invaluable in confronting such decision situations.
It is important to note that decision support systems do not make decisions for
employees. Instead, they enable employees themselves to make better and quicker
decisions by: providing structure for a decision situation, bringing together the data and
analytic tools needed for the decision situation, and by providing these capabilities
though an easy-to-use user interface.
Decision Structures
While decisions can be quite complex, knowing how to attack the decision is half the
battle. Decision support systems can be designed to provide both the framework to use in
decision making and the steps to follow in working through this framework Consider, for
example, the decision to lease or buy a car. Tools to help you step through this decision
are provided on many financial- or automobile-related internet sites.
Access to Data
Most organizations maintain huge amounts of data in databases. Knowing what data is
available or how to access these data, however, can be huge challenges. Decision support
systems identify and bring needed data items to the decision maker.
Analytical Tools
Turning data into usable information often requires the use of analytical (statistical,
mathematical, etc.) tools. A great strength of the computer is its computational ability.
Decision support systems apply powerful analytical tools for both finding and choosing
between decision alternatives.
A User-Friendly Interface
Often, decision makers must invest considerable effort to bring together the various
components of a decision support system. In order to work through a decision situation,
a decision maker may have to try out a number of different decision structures, data items
and analytical tools. The interface, which provides access to these components, must be
easy to use.
Successful decision support systems combine these four elements so that they mesh well
with the decision being faced and the expertise of the decision maker. The guidelines
provided below point out some of the key considerations involved with such designs.
Guidelines:
 The design of the interface, e.g., the computer screen through which a decision maker
gains access to the capabilities of the decision support system, should be consistent
with the decision maker’s way of thinking about the decision.
 Usually, the data items likely to be required are copied from the transactional
database locations and placed within a separate database solely used by the decision
support system. Why? To both secure these transactional databases and to provide
faster data access for the decision maker.
 It may be desirable to place restrictions on a decision maker’s ability to configure the
components of a decision support system in order to enforce a preferred approach to
decision making.
Case Study
Deciding on the products to add to catalog is a much more difficult decision than
deciding which products to drop. It should not be a surprise to learn that the mail order
company has developed a decision support system for selecting these new products.
The company maintains a lot of data about its customers and which customers buy each
of its products. The company’s managers realized that by estimating the extent to which
a candidate product was similar to existing products and by knowing customer buying
patterns for existing products, it would be possible to predict the sales of the candidate
product. Consequently, a decision support system was built that (1) aids the decision
maker to identify existing products similar to the candidate product, (2) quantifies the
degree of similarity and (3) applies both mathematical and financial models to customer
buying patterns to produce revenue forecasts for the candidate product.
Topic #7: Why do companies use business rule automation?
Companies use business rule automation to increase efficiency, accuracy and
productivity. With business rule automation, an information system, rather than a human,
actually makes a decision. How can this occur? Because business rules capable of
handling the decision situation have been devised and incorporated within the software
that directs an Information System.
Many decisions which were originally made by a human decision maker are now made
by an Information System. Consider, for example, the following decisions:
 Should a higher credit level be approved for a customer?
 When should materials be reordered and how much should be ordered?
 When should routine equipment maintenance be scheduled?
In each case, the decision itself has become very well-understood. That is, it has become
possible to define and quantify the important aspects of the decision and to know which
action to take given these aspects. In other words, the decision has been structured.
The business rules associated with these structured decisions consist of three main
elements: conditions, decision actions and “If-Then” relationships.
Business Rule Conditions
Conditions are sets of data values which define a specific decision situation. Say a
customer wishes to make a credit purchase. Should this be approved? The conditions for
this decision would likely include the customer’s credit rating, payment history with the
company and the amount of the purchase.
Business Rule Decision Actions
Actions are the possible outcomes of a decision. With the credit approval example, there
are two actions: approve the purchase, and not approve the purchase.
Business Rule “If-Then” Relationships
“If-Then” relationships link the conditions with the outputs in a logical manner. Again,
using the credit approval example, “If-Then” relationships could be developed that
specify:
 IF the credit rating was above a certain level THEN the purchase would be approved.
 IF the number of payment delinquencies and defaults was above a certain point
THEN the purchase would not be approved.
 IF a combination of these factors occurred, e.g., a slightly poor delinquent payment
history along with a higher-than-normal credit rating THEN the purchase would be
approved.
Most of today’s Information Systems have many business rules embedded within them,
and this has resulted in significant productivity increases. Can you think of some
decisions in your organization currently made by a human which might benefit from
business rule automation?
The Necessity to Periodically Review Business Rules
Much is certainly gained from business rule automation. However, harm can arise if the
business rules which have been embedded within the Information System are “frozen.”
Organizations are always changing. As a result, all business rules must be periodically
examined to determine whether or not they still apply. While the act of decision making
may be transferred from a human to a computer, responsibility for the decision (and,
hence, for the correctness of the business rules) must remain with a human.
Case Study
A challenge that frequently arises in the mail order business involves deciding what to do
when a product a customer purchases is found to be out of stock. Initially, this decision
seemed like one which could be handled through business rule automation. By
maintaining data on the substitutability of products, it seemed like it would be easy to
develop a set of rules identifying which products could substitute for others, thus
automating the decision.
Early attempts to test out this idea proved disastrous. What the company thought was a
reasonable product substitute proved very different from the customer’s perspective, and
turned out to be different across customers. Rather than automate this decision, another
tact was taken. Now, these substitution rules are used to generate suggested product
substitutes which customer service representatives can offer customers whenever a
desired product is out of stock.
What’s the lesson to be learned? You must be very careful in establishing a set of
automated business rules. What one person believes to be the right way of making a
decision may be quite different from others’ perspectives of the decision.
Topic #8: Why do companies use communications support?
Communications technologies improve employees’ abilities to effectively interact with
one another and to share information. Aan organization’s employees spend a great
amount of time communicating. Consider activities such as:
 Giving and receiving instructions or advice.
 Asking for and providing answers to questions.
 Making announcements.
 Bringing important events or issues to the attention of others.
 Working jointly with others to develop a plan or solve a problem.
How much of your day do you spend on these communication tasks? Thirty minutes?
One hour? Three hours? More? If you kept track of this one day, you might be very
surprised at the results.
The variety of communications technologies available today presents people with many
communication alternatives. Some of these are the traditional communication media
which have long existed in organizations, while others are new media which have
appeared within the last two decades. Let’s take a look at both of these categories.
Traditional Media
Communication has always been an important aspect of any organization, and
organizations have long looked for ways to enhance the communication abilities of their
employees. Three communication media available in most organizations include faceto-face interaction, the telephone and written documents (memos, reports).
Face-to-Face
When the persons communicating are physically close to each other,
communication can be very rich. Multiple channels of communication (words,
voice intonations, body language and the setting) simultaneously influence how
messages are interpreted. Also, it becomes very easy to immediately raise
questions to clarify an ambiguous message.
Telephone
By using the telephone, people can communicate even when they are not close to
each other. The barrier of distance is overcome. But, some of the richness of
communication – body language and the setting -- is lost.
Memos and Reports
Paper messages enable people to communicate when they are not in close
proximity to each other or when their schedules do not enable them to physically
meet. Both distance and time barriers are overcome. But, even more of the
richness of communication is lost.
New Media
The new media – fax, voice mail, electronic mail and videoconferencing – have become
available with advances in computers and telecommunications. These technologies
enable people to better overcome the barriers of distance and time, and in doing so, to
communicate both more quickly and more reliably. The new media also enable people to
overcome social or status barriers within their organizations. You probably have a better
chance of being able to reach your superior’s superior through electronic mail than
through the telephone or a face-to-face meeting!
The new media, as does any technology, present potential disadvantages as well as
potential benefits:
Loss of Social Presence
All of the new media involve communication through an electronic channel.
Because this channel “comes between” the individuals communicating, some
sense of presence among these individuals is lost (and, along with it, some of the
richness of communication).
Increased Communication Activity
Increasing the number of communication alternatives also increases the number of
alternatives others have to send you messages. We all seem to be getting many
more “messages” today than we did only two or three years ago. The portion of
the workday spent in communication tasks seems to be steadily increasing for
everyone.
Need for a Critical Mass of Users
When you use electronic communication media to communicate with someone,
the receiver must have access to this same media. Until a critical mass of
communicators regularly uses a medium, no one will receive much value from the
medium. Would you send an electronic mail message to someone who did not
have a personal computer? Would you send an electronic mail message to
someone who did have a personal computer but who rarely checked her electronic
mail box?
By providing employees with access to a variety of communication alternatives,
communication should improve throughout the organization. As a result, individual and
group productivity should increase, and organizational performance should improve.
However, these outcomes will only occur if employees make the right decisions when
deciding how best to communicate in a given situation. The guidelines that follow
should help.
Guidelines:
 Select the best medium: Take the time to think which communication media would
be best for the communication task. For example, it might be preferable to criticize a
subordinate through a face-to-face meeting than through electronic mail, as this
enables an immediate dialog regarding what the subordinate should have done. All
too often, people develop dysfunctional habits in their media use.
 Learn the etiquette: Learn the social etiquette associated with new media. For
example, it is considered appropriate behavior to leave short, not long, voice mail
messages and to reply to important electronic mail messages (so that the sender
knows it has been received).
 Understand privacy issues: Understand the personal privacy implications of the
new media. Legally, for example, electronic mail messages are considered company,
not personal property. You should not say anything through electronic mail that you
would not want broadcast throughout your company.
Case Study
Where do ideas come from regarding candidate products to add to the company’s
catalog? A very valuable source of ideas are a mail order company’s current customers.
Often, when ordering one item, a customer may tell the customer service representative:
“What I really wish you had to sell was “X.” All too often, however, such comments are
lost. The company’s new product manager then came up with a very simple, but
effective way to capture customer comments. When a customer service representative
hears a comment regarding a desired item, they have been instructed to send an electronic
mail message describing the product to a “new product “ mail box. The new product
manager regularly checks this mail box and then uses the information to update a “new
product” database she has developed using spreadsheet software on her personal
computer.
Topic #9: How can I assess the adequacy of the Information Systems
in my work context?
In order to assess the adequacy of the information systems in your work context, you
need to do three things:
 Reflect on the objectives of each of the five types of Information Systems.
 Determine if your current Information Systems are effectively supporting your
company’s work activities.
 If you determine that these Information Systems are not as effective as they might be,
you then need to take action.
Reflect on the Five Types of Information Systems
In this primer, you have been introduced to the different types of information systems
typically encountered in organizations: transaction processing systems, information
reporting systems, decision support systems, business rule automation and
communication support. Note, however, that these information systems have been
described in their “pure” form. Most likely, the information systems you use are some
combination of these “pure” types. Many information systems today have business rules
and communications support built into them. It is also very common for information
systems to accomplish both transaction processing and information reporting or both
information reporting and decision support.
Determine the Effectiveness of Your Department’s Information Systems
How should you go about evaluating your company’s Information Systems? The survey
given on the following page should provide you with a useful “framework” for thinking
about such an evaluation. Each question presents a statement about either the nature of
the work in your company or about the Information System available to support this
work. Please select one of the following four responses after thinking about each
question:
(1) – you strongly agree with the statement
(2) – you agree with the statement
(3) – you disagree with the statement
(4) – you strongly disagree with the statement
Questions
Data items involved with key business events are
almost always electronically captured as the events
occur.
The computerized databases most directly linked to
my work activities seem, for the most part, to be
error-free.
The computer-generated reports distributed to me
keep me well-informed about how well our
company is performing.
I can generally find something of value from each
of the computer-generated reports sent to me.
When faced with decision situations, I am able to
readily access the data items needed to resolve the
decision.
Computer-based tools are available to staff in my
company to support most of the day-to-day
decisions that arise.
A number of the routine decisions that frequently
arise in my company have been fully automated.
The business rules which have been embedded
within my company’s Information System are
regularly evaluated to make sure that they remain
valid.
Overall, my company’s Information Systems are
easy to use.
Overall, my company’s Information Systems are
available for use when they are needed.
Now, calculate your total score:
Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly
Agree
Disagree
1
2
3
4
Your total score should be interpreted using the following rule:
If your score is
then, your Information Systems are
and, you should focus on
less than 20
in excellent shape
identifying new
information systems
between 20 and 30
in adequate shape
suggesting minor
improvements to your
firm’s information
systems
more than 30
in need of major redesign
identifying major
enhancements to your
firm’s information
systems
Take Action
As has been pointed out earlier, all of an organization’s employees must be willing and
able to identify ways to improve existing information systems and to suggest ideas for
new information systems. It is the ultimate aim of any information system to provide
employees with the information and capabilities they need to become more productive
and more valued members of their company. The best source of information regarding
how to apply information systems to support you and your department’s work is you!
What Should You Say?
The more specific you can be about the limitations of your current information
systems, the more likely it is that these can be fixed. Similarly, the more specific
you can be about desired information or processing capabilities, the more likely it
is that these will be understood, appreciated and seriously considered. Most
important, don’t feel that you have to speak like a technologist. Express your
thoughts in the same manner you talk to co-workers about your work.
Remember, the objective is to design business solutions, not technical solutions!
Who Should You Talk To?
This will vary across organizations and even across departments within an
organization. Normally, there is someone – either in your department or your
company’s information services group – who should receive these comments. If
you are unaware of who this person is, ask your immediate supervisor.
Where Does the Business Value Lay?
As a final exercise, ask yourself: “Is it really of value to me to take the time to
learn about information systems and identify ways of improving the information
systems that I use?” If you are unsure of your answer, consider another question:
“Who stands to gain the most from such an effort?” In most organizations today,
everyone is very busy. If you don’t become actively involved in improving the
information systems you use, it might not be clear who would take on this
responsibility and, even if someone did, when they would do it. Hopefully, this
primer has begun to provide you with the basic knowledge your require to begin
to improve the manner in which you and your organization use information
systems.
Glossary
Analytical Tools: Statistical or mathematical techniques used in supporting decision
making.
Business Document: A paper-based form used to conduct business.
Business Event: Distinctive action associated with the handling of day-to-day business
activities.
Business Objective: The business purpose, or purposes, which are intended to be
accomplished through an Information System.
Business Rule Automation: Logical rules embedded in information systems such that
specific business actions are taken.
Condition: Sets of data values which define a specific decision situation.
Communications Support: Communications technologies that enable two or more
individuals to send and receive messages.
Critical Mass: When many of the potential users of a technology must use the
technology in order for the technology to provide value for these users.
Database: A well-defined set of data describing a specific entity, e.g., personnel,
inventory, products, etc.
Decision Action: The possible alternatives to be taking once a decision is made.
Decision Structure: Framework to be applied when making a specific decision.
Decision Support System: Information system designed to provide managers and
workers with the information needed to make or take decisions.
Event Listing: Simple report displaying the business events which have occurred or that
are about to occur.
Exception Report: An information report received only when an exception situation
occurs.
Exception Situation: The occurrence of an event (or a trend line) which is outside
expected or planned bounds.
Hardware: The electronic equipment used to construct computer systems.
“If-Then” Relationships: Logical rules which link a decision’s conditions with its
actions.
Information Reporting System: Information system designed to provide managers and
workers with the reports they need to plan and accomplish their work tasks.
Information System: Computer system designed to accomplish business objectives.
Interface: The “language” used by an information systems’ users as they interact with
the information system.
New Media: Communication alternatives (fax, voice mail, electronic mail,
videoconferencing), based on advances in telecommunications technologies, which are
increasingly being made available to an organization’s employees.
People: Computer users possessing the required knowledge and skills for the Information
Systems to accomplish the intended business objective.
Periodic Report: Information report received on a regular basis.
Procedures: Proscribed actions to be followed during or in conjunction with computersupported work tasks.
Social Presence: The ability to sense the presence (body language, voice intonations,
etc.) of others when communicating.
Software: The programs (logical steps) used to direct the hardware in computer systems.
Telecommunications: Communications technologies enabling data (numeric, text, audio,
video, etc.) to be transmitted over short and long distances.
Traditional Media: Communication alternatives (face-to-face, telephone, memos and
reports) which are always available to an organization’s employees.
Transaction Processing System: Information system designed to capture and store data
and then use this data to produce business documents.